Piau Engaly

Please note, this post is just for the first climb on the map above. I’ll post about the amazing Lac de Cap de Long soon.

Deep in the French Pyrenées, the little ski station of Piau Engaly has hosted just one Tour de France stage – in 1999, a stage won by the Spaniard Escartin with Armstrong in yellow on the way to his 1st Tour.

From Saint-Lary-Soulan, the route follows a main (but quiet) road through a gorge with high mountains in all directions. It’s steadily up but rarely steep for the first 13 kilometres.

At La Plan, the road turns off before the tunnel to Spain and the real climb begins. For the final 7 kilometres, it’s very quiet, plenty of hairpins, and ends surrounded by a cirque of montagnes.

Soon after La Plan:

Reaching the summit:

Quite nice.

8.4Excellent

A very quiet, scenic little climb deep in the Pyrenées. Not the hardest climb, but it has a very nice feel to it. Perfect addition to a ride with Lac Cap de Long.